Tsukiji – Sushi for breakfast
As we were wandering around more, I noticed a sushi restaurant on “our list” that was going to open at 10 AM, and had only six people in line. We decided to join the line at Tsukiji Sushi Sei Honten (築地寿司清 築地本店) 🗾.
All three of us enjoyed a slightly different Omakase sushi breakfast, along with sake (nihonshu). My son and I had a 12-ingredient one, and my wife had a nine-ingredient one. It’s unusual for us to eat Sushi for breakfast, let alone have alcohol before noon. This, however, is what one does here. Many of the food stalls and restaurants close up shop between noon and 2:30 PM. Sitting at the sushi bar, receiving one item at a time, was a lot of fun, and the food was delicious. A few items were clear favorites for us, and we ordered them a few seconds apart: conger eel and otoro!
After the sushi breakfast, we explored more of the market. We checked out some handmade knives that were very tempting to buy, but I told myself I already have too many (good) kitchen knives and that a shop in this location was likely targeting tourists too much. I later read some reviews that confirmed that, with people having bought knives that turned out to have defects. So, I am glad I decided not to buy any. We checked out more food places and bought some mochi for dessert.
As one of the last things we ran into, we found a place that was starting to process a big tuna. We were able to get a good position to video much of the process. Quite impressive. From there, we made our way back towards the station, although our destination was a little beyond the station, and closer to our hotel: Hamarikyu Gardens (浜離宮恩賜庭園).